Area Development
Responding with urgency to the national Covid-19 pandemic, textile manufacturer Airtex Group | Acme Made, pivoted to provide critical personal protective equipment supplies at its manufacturing operation in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Airtex Group | Acme Made, normally a leading textile manufacturer designing and producing products such as high-end linen window coverings, pillows, throws, and bags, said it was well positioned to redeploy their workforce to sew gowns, non-surgical facemasks and assemble face shields.

"Our talented team of designers and operations staff knew exactly what to do when presented with the need for PPE gear," said CEO Mike Miller. "In addition to our consumer home textile business, we have many business to business customers in the medical industry, so we used strong connections and supply chain expertise to get raw materials into the factory quickly," added Miller.

According to company officials, the gowns are classified as Level 2 Isolation wear made from an innovative recycled material that allows moisture to pass from the inside while shielding fluids from the outside. With a softer and thinner material, this gown is lighter than most Isolation level 2 gowns, an important attribute when worn for long periods of time. The gown meets various medical industry standards for resistance of materials used in protective clothing.

"Our number one priority is keeping our team healthy, so we've stepped up normally stringent standards for cleaning and monitoring everyone's health under CDC guidelines," added Miller. "We feel very fortunate that our team has had no issues and that we've been able to keep everyone employed."

Established as an agricultural textile manufacturer in 1918, Airtex Group | Acme Made has grown into a leading cut and sew manufacturer in the US textile industry. The company has nearly 100 employees working from their Minneapolis headquarters and in locations around the world.